Living Well and Living Fully

"We don't beat the reaper by living longer, we beat the reaper by living well and living fully." This quote from Randy Pausch, who died today at 47 from pancreatic cancer, is worth remembering and living.

Randy Pausch was the professor at Carnegie Mellon whose "Last Lecture" and book of the same name became a best seller and the lecture is very popular on YouTube. He lived a full life, all of his life and made a difference in other people's life.

I became interested in him because of the pancreatic cancer. When I was working at Choice Mortgage there were five young men in our extended circle of appraisers, loan officers, title officers, real estate officers, etc. who had this pancreatic cancer and all in their mid 40's. It seemed so odd to me and evidently this Randy wanted more research done on pancreatic cancer and donated funds for such because it is not exactly clear what causes it and very difficult to cure.

In the first video Randy states he originally did the last lecture, not for the 400 watching at Mellon College, but for his three children who will watch it someday. In the second video he states he waited until 39 to marry because he had never found anyone until then whose happiness meant more to him than his own and then he picks her up and carries her off the stage.

Both videos are worth taking the time to watch and learn from. I hope you enjoy your life all of your life and live your dreams each day.